Pond update

This mild weather has meant the fish in the pond are still coming up for food. The water has stayed clear but no doubt it will green up come the spring.
On a good day I can still count 30 fish though we put 41 back in. There were very small fish, this years fry, probably eaten by now.

The brown fish is a wild carp about 31/2 lb in weight now. I rescued them from the pond at work 8yrs ago as they were in the weed dragged out onto the bank during a renovation. I had them in a tank in my lab for about 3 yrs but during a lab refit I had to find somewhere else for them. At the time they were about 3inches long so fitted in with the pond goldfish.

A lot of blondes amongst the group now.
I have drastically cut the plants back as they had got rather over grown over the last few years. I do have spare white, pale pink and deep pink water lilies if any one wants them.

Comments

I still have my pond pumps in operation. I purchased a new outdoor aerator to keep an open area in the ponds for ice over ......it's still in the box. Looks like I'll be taking it out of the box and using it for supplemental aeration this summer and no sooner. My fish are still trying to do their winter thing and stay quiet on the bottom for how much longer, I don't know. The frogs are up and with little food supply some might succumb. Sounds like I live right next door to you doesn't it?

Siris if you see your fish gulping air from the surface....well it's something that you really don't want to see. That activity means that they are very stressed due to low oxygen and that they are on the brink of going belly up. That's not a good existence for them and some relief should be given if possible.

I meant in the past, about 30 years ago, before having an aerating system. Now, no problems although the pump needs the rubber diaphragm changing about every fifth year as the the rubber perishes and does not pump effeciantly.
When I top up the pond with tap water I try to let it spray in the pond to help remove the chlorine, which is not beneficial to fish. I don't think there will be a hose pipe ban this year!

Lovely to see your fish Sbg. You have some good sizes there. I stopped feeding my fish about 3 weeks ago but heard them jumping in the pond yesterday and congregating under the window....their usual place when they hear us in the concervatory and want to be fed. They wolfed down the food between them. The water temperature must be over 10c for them to be so hungry.
I leave my pump on all year too. T cleaned the filter last week for me because the flow into the pond had slowed right down.
The weather forecaster just said that the average temperatures in December are 4c higher than normal. It feels like a lot more to me.